It was Assange's first public comments since WikiLeaks disclosed its entire archive of U.S. State Department cables last week. The United States has fiercely criticized the move, saying it could endanger the lives of the sources named in the cables, including opposition figures or human rights advocates.

Guardian spokeswoman Hayley Dunlop said the newspaper had no further comment beyond last week's statement. That joint statement by the Guardian and four other publicationsdeplored "the decision of WikiLeaks to publish the unredacted State Department cables, which may put sources at risk."

Speaking via a video link, Assange told an audience at a Berlin technology trade fair that a Guardian journalist had published the password to the encrypted files in his book, creating a situation where some people got access to the uncensored files while others did not.

"We had a case where every intelligence agency has the material and the people who are mentioned do not have the material," he said from a mansion about two hours' drive from London, where he is under virtual house arrest pending extradition proceedings to Sweden on unrelated sexual assault allegations.

"So you have a race between the bad guys and the good guys and it was necessary for us to stand on the side of the good guys," he said.

WikiLeaks on Friday posted the 251,287 cables on its website, making potentially sensitive diplomatic sources available to anyone.

Indian leader says Assange off-target

A top Indian politician lashed out at WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange on Tuesday, saying he is either insane or being used as a tool of her opponents for releasing U.S. Embassy cables that describe her as a corrupt megalomaniac. An October 2008 cable called Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, a powerful leader of the nation's bottom caste untouchables, a "virtual paranoid dictator" who once sent a private jet to Mumbai to pick up a new pair of sandals. The cable also stated that she institutionalized corruption throughout India's most populous state and charged potential candidates $250,000 to run for Parliament on her party's ticket. Mayawati told reporters that the Wiki­Leaks accusations were "malicious, incorrect and obscene."

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